‘Ulmer’s Blog’ Posts

Hamilton native Spencer Abbott is a late bloomer making waves with the Marlies.

There are two kinds of speed that propel professional hockey players.

The speed of the brain and the speed of the feet.

The Marlies’ Spencer Abbott has the first. He is working on the second.

The second-year forward has registered at least a point in all nine games he has played. Abbott has a goal and 11 assists and sits second in team scoring behind defenceman T.J. Brennan who is in the middle of the season of a lifetime that […]

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Josh Leivo worked tirelessly on his game and earned a return engagement with the Maple Leafs.

Twice, 20-year-old Josh Leivo has left the Toronto Marlies for the quick commute up the Gardiner Expressway to the Air Canada and a spot with the Leafs.

Leivo was called up to the Leafs Thursday in the wake of a foot injury to incurred by Joffrey Lupul at practice on Thursday. David Clarksons’ 10-game suspension and an ankle sprain incurred by Nikolai Kulemin netted Leivo a […]

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Wade MacLeod’s not really a fighter, at least not in the conventional hockey sense.

Wade MacLeod is playing for the Marlies six months after having a brain tumor removed.

MacLeod has averaged a minor penalty every couple of pro games but the Marlies 26-year-old winger is authoring one of the compelling stories of the AHL season.

MacLeod was playing at home for the Springfield Falcons, last February against Adirondack when he absorbed a hard hit into the boards. He remembers the hit, remembers being carted away via stretcher and ferried to hospital […]

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It is part of our national character that about the time we are prodded into going outside in winter we begin heckling those who remain indoors.

And so the Toronto Marlies, Hamilton Bulldogs and 20,655 people who visited Ivor Wynne Stadium in Hamilton, many for the first time, have a message.

Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah.

The AHL’s Outdoor Classic was just that; an event positioned somewhere between novelty act and intense Canadiana. That the Marlies beat the Bulldogs 7-2 was nice for the visitors but really, you just had to be there.